Woolly says – We had arrived in Udaipur to lovely twinkly lights and a Harry Potter Themed hostel, an excellent start in my book. Waking fully refreshed and having taken in the views from the roof top terrace at our accommodation, before hunting down some breakfast I was ready for anything. Udaipur is also known as the “City of Lakes,” and is in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is the historic capital of the kingdom of Mewar and was founded in 1553 by Maharana Udai Singh of the Sisodia clan of Rajput, when he shifted his capital from the city of Chittorgarh to Udaipur, after Chittorgarh was besieged by Akbar. It remained as the capital city until 1818 when it became a British princely state before the Mewar province became a part of Rajasthan when India gained independence in 1947. Wandering through the backstreets of this quaint city was delightful, lots of lovely buildings to look at as well as the lake.
We paused for a while and watched the boats speeding across the green tinged water before crossing the pedestrian bridge onto the Place side of the water.
Woolly says – The palace sat comfortably on top of a hill, built over a period of nearly 400 years, with contributions from several rulers of the Mewar dynasty. Its construction began in 1553, started by Maharana Udai Singh II using a fusion of the Rajasthani and Mughal architectural styles, it is also famous for being used in the 1983 James Bond movie Octopussy. Having paid for our tickets and wandered past some guards who were sporting a rather jolly orange and yellow plume in their hats we found our way to the museum and followed the hundreds of people inside. The first two rooms were tiny, to small even for me to want to live in and with so many people trying to crowd in completely impossible to see anything. Across a courtyard we went and into some small corridors until we reached a large basin which had been carved out one of one piece of marble for the coronation of one of the Kings. Rather than filling it with water they filled it with silver coins, an excellent idea in my mind and far better for you than water! The money was later given to the poor which is even better. Up marble steps we went and into what turned out to be the first of the stained glass experience for the day, a gorgeous balcony with the remains of colourful glass, with lovely walls carved with flowers and maidens, it made for a wonderful retreat, I could just imagine a comfy rocking chair and putting my paws up after a day or ruling my subjects. Some further steps upwards and we popped out at a large courtyard lined with pillars with a large pool as its central feature. One end was filled with more coloured glass in reds, yellows, blues and greens which looked great with the sunlight pouring through. We caught our first view over the rest of the city which looked so much bigger than we realised, before ducking down to enter a doorway that led us into a mirrored room, Jo queued next to me so that we could take our turn in taking our snap but being mirrored it was difficult to do so without having the hoardes behind us featured in the picture as well. At every turning we found other areas, some covered in pink some in blue and yellow tiles or with ceilings that were delightfully pretty to look at.
Room after room of delights, well it would have been except for the consistent selfie mad crowds, we seemed to be following a group of five young men who took a selfie at each and every possible place before starting on ones of two, then three of themselves before all of them were in shot, usually in my shot!
Woolly says – I was getting trampled underfoot and having admired a room covered in wonderful paintings, I gave up walking and went for the carrying option instead, another courtyard arrived, with one side so wonderful to behold we hung around for a while trying to get one picture without people in, impossible. More stained glass greeted us with nooks and shelves covered in exquisite tiles, an area with light blue glass and blue and white tiles was incredible, we stood watching the sunbeams bouncing off the walls for a while, it also stopped anyone else from getting in, so we could take as many pictures as we liked. We walked further on and came to a throne room, with windows like a rainbow, wonderful. Each door was a picture in itself and I dreaded to think how many photographs we were taking and apologise now for the number on this blog. Next came the state rooms, incredible décor with gold added for further embellishment, as I peered out of one of the doomed shaped windows I couldn’t believe the outside wall that was decorated with mirrors and green tiles, I urged Jo on to get a better view. We walked into another mirrored room covered in tiles, I really didn’t know where to look next. Down more steps and we arrived in the palace kitchens, where pots and pans that would have once been used were displayed. The Kings official bedroom was a lovely green with the biggest window seats I have ever seen, more snaps joined the collection, a corridor of sculptures which we walked past noting the best but not paying much attention to them, I mean when there’s stained glass to look at why do we need more Hindu Gods! We appeared to have arrived on the ground floor and found ourselves in a gallery of musical instruments, each one held by a metal matchstick man, a very clever way of displaying them I thought. As we crossed a large courtyard we seemed to have completed the tour, I almost wanted to go around again but bowed down to the idea of a drink and snack break instead.
It had been amazing and well worth going around, well except for the masses who had joined us.
Woolly says – Having munched on my puri and finished my lemon soda, I asked what was next, Jo grinned and pointed at the lake and the island that sat out in the middle of it. Lake Pichola is an artificial fresh water lake, created in 1362 and named after the nearby Picholi village. It is one of the several lakes that interlink and where the water levels can be adjusted during the monsoon season to avoid flooding, very clever if you ask me. Having acquired the tickets, we ambled towards the jetty laughing at the folks on the launches covered in bright orange life jackets, the laughter faded somewhat as we clambered onto our launch and found ourselves clad in the very same. The boat rather than take the direct course to the island sped us past the palace before turning and heading past two other very small floating islands. As we pulled up at Jag Mandir and climbed off I surveyed my surroundings. Jag Mandir is a palace and is also called the “Lake Garden Palace”. Constructed by three Maharana’s of the Sisodia Rajputs of Mewar kingdom, building was started in 1551, once used by the royal family as a summer resort and pleasure palace for holding parties it is now more of a tourist attraction and wedding venue.
Half of the island was filled with restaurants, highly priced ones at that, the rest had lovely gardens and some buildings that were worth taking some pictures of.
Woolly says – Elephants featured quite heavily in the decoration front, including being used as decoration on the fence posts, quite cute, but much cuter if they had used mammoths! Having wandered around we found a shady bench and sat watching the coots on the lake and enjoying the view. I liked Udaipur it had a hippyish feel to it, the streets were litter free, the palace was wonderful and even better I got to sleep in a Harry Potter designed room!